This invention relates to novel crystalline forms of (2S,3S,5S)-2-(2,6-dimethylphenoxyacetyl)amino-3-hydroxy-5-(2-(1-tetrahydropyrimid-2-onyl)-3-methylbutanoyl)amino-1,6-diphenylhexane (also known as lopinavir) and methods for their preparation. The novel crystalline forms of the invention can be used to purify or isolate lopinavir or for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions for the administration of lopinavir.
Inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease have been approved for use in the treatment of HIV infection for several years. A particularly effective and recently approved HIV protease inhibitor is (2S,3S,5S)-2-(-2,6-dimethylphenoxyacetyl)-amino-3-hydroxy-5-(2-(1-tetrahydropyrimid-2-onyl)-3-methylbutanoyl)amino-1,6-diphenylhexane (also known as lopinavir). 
Lopinavir is known to have utility for the inhibition of HIV protease and the inhibition of HIV infection. Lopinavir is particularly effective for the inhibition of HIV protease and for the inhibition of HIV infection when coadministered with ritonavir. Lopinavir, when combined with ritonavir, is also particularly effective for the inhibition of HIV infection when used in combination with one or more reverse transcriptase inhibitors and/or one or more other HIV protease inhibitors.
Lopinavir and processes for its preparation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,332, issued Jun. 22, 1999, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. This patent also discloses processes for preparing amorphous lopinavir.
Pharmaceutical compositions comprising lopinavir or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,332, issued Jun. 22, 1999; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/966,495, filed Nov. 7, 1997; U.S. Provisional Application for Patent No. 60/177,020, filed Jan. 19, 2000 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/487,739, filed Jan. 19, 2000, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
It has now been unexpectedly discovered that lopinavir can be prepared and isolated as each of a number of crystal forms.